Angel was ready to kill someone. The doctor preferably after he made sure that Buffy was ok. The man had asked Angel idiotic questions. Did Buffy take drugs? That in it's self is the stupidest idea since B-I-T-C-H spelled "bitcha". Angel had answered the questions, barely suppressing his anger at not being able to stay near Buffy as she was rushed into a room. He paced the hallway of the hospital like a caged animal that wanted to hunt. He went to pivot so that he could continue his pacing when he looked up and there was Xander. Angel was surprised with both the boy and himself because the boy made no noise and was able to sneak up on him. Angel was even more surprised when he heard the gamma speak.

"Angel, the nurses need to ask you some questions, I'll stay and watch over her." Xander spoke in his usual shy guy manner, but there was a difference in it that Angel caught. He looked into Xander's eyes and saw that the boy wouldn't meet his eyes fully. Angel figured that the nurses could wait for a minute, it was time to figure out what sort of changes the boy had gone through since the marking.

"Do you know why I bit you boy?" Angel spoke in a voice so remininsant of Angelus that Xander got a chill down his spine.

"No. Willow said that you did that because I challenged your dominance. I suppose that you bit me to... teach me a lesson, put me in my place maybe. All I know is that you were acting too much like Angelus for me. I was scared shitless."

"Well give the boy a prize; he knows more than he lets on. You're right; I bit you to "put you in your place" as you called it. There was another reason: I lead this coven, and as such I am alpha. You are the lowest of the low in this coven and you do as I say or you won't live to regret it. Am I clear?" Angel was amazed that the boy was able to make those connections, and in the basest part of his demonic mind he was starting to get worried. The boy was smart, smarter than he seemed and if he wanted to he could be a problem.

"Watch over her. Don't let anyone besides a nurse or doctor in her room. Do you understand me?" Angel decided to see if the boy was trustworthy or not, this was his first, last and only chance to do so.

Xander just nodded his assent and stood by the door that led to Buffy's room. Angel took one last look and went down the hall and around the corner to the nurse's station, wondering to his self what the boy would be capable of if he were to be turned...


"B' you heard the same thing that I did. You know that you need the power that I can give you. You know that if you don't, things will get a whole lot worse without you. You know that the blueberries are telling the truth about you being the strongest of slayers. I mean you saw the proof for yourself twice. The first when I was fighting you to kill Angel when Mrs. Post screwed with my head and again when you gutted me. You held back on one of those times and I went all out. All you got was a small bruise. I looked like a guy beat me. And then look at what happened when you didn't hold back. "B" you are the strongest of us. And if things go as these things said you're going to have a hellavu' time getting the best of the new Big Bad. This is my chance to help you instead of being a pain. Let me do this." Faith knew that she had Buffy right where she needed her. The Oracles may have scared the hell out of her with the whole fist-through-the-face thing, but now she knew that this is where her path as a slayer led her.

The reason that Faith acted like she did was due to one very basic instinct: she acted like she did because of fear. She was scared that she would die alone in a dark ally one night and no one would know, or even worse care. The fact that these beings were talking about her death was still very unsettling to her, but the type of death that they offered was different. This death held honor, and knowing that people would, not morn her to be certain, but feel emotions because of her death changed things for her. She could go on this path and not be scared of what it held, because she already knew. And she was comfortable with that. This was the path that she was supposed to lead, and this is the path that she would finish.

"Alright. I'll do it, but... Faith, you have to be sure of this cause this is death that we are talking about here, and this isn't the type you come back from. This is not drowning in a puddle and being brought back. There is no "back," so tell me now, what do you want to do?"


Xander was standing in front of the doors that lead to Buffy's room looking like some sort of bodyguard-in-training. He didn't move, didn't pace, and some of the nurses that passed by thought that he was dead or asleep on his feet because it seemed like he hardly breathed.

Xander looked calm and collected on the outside, but it was an entirely different story going on in his mind. He was talking to himself a-mile-a-minute, and that was the slow version. He didn't know what was going on. He knew that when Angel had spoken to him just minutes before that he had responded, but it wasn't him that responded. Ever since he and the others went to the Mansion to check in on Buffy there was a voice that's been telling him what to do, and his body has been doing it with no permission from his mind. Looking Angel in the eyes while he was getting in touch with his inner Angelus was not his idea; it was the voice's idea. Telling Angel that he knew and understood why he was bitten was the voice's idea as well. And what scared Xander the most was that there was a tiny part of him that wanted to listen to the voice.

Xander was just starting to turn to move to the other side of the door frame when he saw a shadow move in Buffy's room. As soon as he saw the shadow the voice took control once again. Xander felt his body move into the open door even while he heard himself yell Angel's name, knowing that the vampire would be able to hear him. When Xander got a step into the room he found out what the shadow was: it was the Mayor; and he had a hand over Buffy's mouth and nose.

When Xander saw that the man-turned demon was trying to kill his friend he stopped trying to figure out the voice and started to let it do what it wanted to do.

"Angel, get in here now!! Something's happening!" Xander yelled to Angel as he ran at the man and jumped on him, tearing his hands off of his friend's mouth in the process. As Xander rose to his feet Angel ran into the room and took a stance in-between the mayor and his coven. The mayor struggled to his feet, and looked Angel in the eye.

"What the FUCK is going on here!?"

"Murderous little fiend! Did you see what she did to my Faith?"

Angel gave a little smirk in response to the visualization of his Buffy beating the life out of the rouge slayer. "Hadn't made plans to weep over that one. He spoke in a voice that held smug satisfaction while looking the mayor face to face.

"Well I'd get set for some weeping if I were you. I'd get set for a world of pain. Misery love company young man, and I'm looking to share that with you and your whore!"

As the mayor had started to throw insults at him Angel grew angrier and angrier, finding it harder and harder to contain the beast in him. Finally it became too hard as the mayor said the word "whore" and Angel, meaning only to shove the man/monster out of the way, found the blood of his slayer newly coursing through his veins made him more powerful. The man flew through the air, smashing into the window beside the door connecting the two rooms. As the mayor fought to right himself once more, Angel shifted his weight and panted trying to control his anger and new temper.

"Well, heh, heh! Looks like somebody's been eating his spinach!" The mayor spoke in a voice full of amusement as he straitened up looking at Angel, Xander and the hospital workers who had gathered when the ruckus started. "No, it's ok folks. It's all right. The show's not over, but there will be a short intermission. Don't want to miss the second act. All kinds of excitement."

"I'll be there, between you and Buffy. You can count on it."


SOOOOO SOOOO SORRY that it took me this long to update the storry, but I lost my internet access and now I'm doing this over the school computers. The seventh one will be up soon.

-Sapph